Headstrong hunted out his hour boldly,
showing at good places, far enough ahead, on course, and searching, not
just running. When they neared the bear-trap segment after the last
road crossing, Kyle and Buck dreaded the opportunities for Headstrong
to disconnect in the last miserable segment of difficult country. But
somehow Headstrong made it though the ten minutes of misery and showed
again at the creek; then he rimmed the bean field beyond. With a nod
from the judges, Buck rode ahead of them to be able to take charge of
Headstrong before he reached the dual lane highway approaching the
nuclear plant entrance. Then time was up. Another hour as good tomorrow
and Headstrong should make the callback to the two-hour finals. Little
had been seen of the bracemate.
A half dozen trucks and horse trailers were gathered by the checkpoint
leading into the plant. The judges dismounted and walked into the trees
to relieve themselves of morning coffee, and so did many in the gallery
of fifty riders and Kyle, Buck and Hardie, who asked,

“How did he do?” Buck said,

“ A good job. Another as good
tomorrow and he’ll get called back.” Kyle nodded agreement.

“He ran the kind of race they like
here. Wide and independent, true all-age. He never came in from behind,
never came back from the front to hit me in the face, laid out there
searchin’. I liked it.”

Hardie Dillard was still a novice, but
during his time riding workouts with his dog, Kyle and Buck had given
him the basics, so he could take in the essence of Kyle’s cryptic
description. Kyle watered Headstrong and put him in a compartment in
the dog trailer.

“Let’s get ‘em on the line,” John
Russell bellowed at the nodded suggestion of the senior judge.

Two white pointers,which appeared
identical to Hardie Dillard, were led by their scouts to a gap in trees
that was the start of the second morning course.

“Let ‘em go,” said the senior judge,
and the dogs sprinted up the hill through the opening and into open
country marked by tree lines separating bean fields just harvested.

Kyle, Buck, and Hardie rode together at
the rear of the gallery. Hardie peppered the handlers with questions
about the course, the dogs down and their handlers, the judges. He was
obviously into the sport. Buck hoped it would not be a short-lived
enthusiasm. He had seen many new owners become wildly enthusiastic,
only to lose interest completely after a few disappointing
performances. But Dillard seemed to him most likely a stayer—he was
fascinated by the game overall and its disparate characters, human,
canine, equine, and not just by his own dog.

Gallery riders made it a point to ride
up and introduce themselves to Dillard and congratulate him on
Headstrong’s performance, which made him feel good. His new roan also
drew compliments. Other mounts in the gallery spanned the gamut in
quality, everything from fly-bitten ponies ridden by small children to
shiny show horses ridden by stylish ladies with the hair piled up
beneath riding helmets and their dainty feet in high boots like those
Dillard had often seen at the foxhunting clubs in Northern Virginia and
elsewhere in the fashionable patches of the east. Hardie somehow liked
this eclectic crowd better than the look-alike high-toned set around
foxhunting enclaves. The riders here were from every walk of life,
farmers, blue collar tradesmen and craftsmen, entrepreneurs, college
professors, doctors, lawyers, you name it. All they had in common was a
love of big running bird dogs and smooth striding saddle horses and
unpretentious fun.
As the filed-trial party descended into the flatlands of the second
morning course, with its big bean fields surrounded by patches of
hardwoods, Buck thought of all the great performances he’d seen here
over the years. Most memorable were the three years in a row when
House’s Rain Cloud dominated the competition, with rawboned Mike Mathey
handling and Joe Don House, Cloud’s breeder, scouting. Mike fished for
catfish in the Tennessee River when he was not working dogs—not a
sports fisherman, but a commercial one, putting out thousands of hooks
tied to floating bottles each fishing day, then retracing his route in
his outboard to retrieve the catch.